A Spot of Rain and Local Flavor

Martin Blood-Forsythe '10| July 8, 2009

A lot has happened since we last posted: it’s been busy on the research front and we also didn’t have great access to internet over the weekend. But, the good part is that we’ve had lots of adventures so you get to see pretty pictures.

After getting lost on some of the steepest hilly streets in the city, on Friday night we ate with Chema and his wife and Stephon at this charming little tapas restaurant. Unfortunately none of us thought to bring a camera, so you’ll just have to take my word for the fact that this place was eye-candy. Along one wall where huge vats of the house-wine, above which was a nice wooden balcony where there was a piano player. The food was excellent and probably the most interesting we’ve had so far. We spent Saturday morning wandering around downtown Santander in the rain. Although we weren’t able to find everything we were looking for the architecture in the old quarter of downtown is substantially prettier than anything else we’ve seen.

This building was particularly pretty. I was surprised to find the rosy tint to the sky that my camera picked up.

At the end of one street there is a very large arch that is part of the Bank of Santander. We were a little surprised when we first saw it.

I think the best part about the old districts of European cities is the random little churches you find peaking out at the end of a random street.

We stocked up on bread thinking that the bakery would be closed on Sunday along with everything else. Oops! It turns out that it’s the only thing that doesn’t.
We were sad to discover that just a few days after we leave Santander the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be playing a free concert as a part of a festival here.

Sunday was a beach day. It was a little cool at first but after a while the sun really came out and made everything beautiful… well, except for the whole sunburn part. I am still shocked at how clear and warm the water is here given that we are on the bay of Biscay.

Most of the times we have seen it the water has been very calm, but one day the wind picked up a lot and a few surfers even showed up.

One Response to “A Spot of Rain and Local Flavor”

Addendum: I know it may seem like we’re only blogging about food and the beach etc. Part of this is because that’s what is new and exciting to us. Our physics work has been very fruitful and interesting here but it does not feel “new” in quite the same way as the cultural experiences. It is also hard to figure out what to say about research in general relativity that is going to be accessible and interesting to the lay perspective.